Professor of Architecture, Planning, Urban Design and Urban History at the University of California, Berkeley; the president of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE); and the editor of Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (TDSR). He was the char of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies until 2014 and the associate dean for International Programs in the College of Environmental Design until 2009. As a scholar, he has authored and edited several books on housing, identity, tradition, urbanism, urban design, urban history, urban informality, tourism and virtuality. He has also produced and directed two public television video documentaries: “Virtual Cairo” and “At Home with Mother Earth.” Among his numerous grants are those received from the U.S. Department of Education, NEA Design Arts Program, Getty Grant Program, and the Graham Foundation. Awards include the Beit AlQuran Medal, Bahrain, the Pioneer American Society Book Award, and the American Institute of Architects Education Honors. Professionally active as both an architect and planner in the United States and Egypt, he is Principal of XXA-Office of Xross-Xultural Architecture. His projects include houses and apartment buildings in Egypt, California, and Saudi Arabia, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Berkeley, and award-winning competition entries such as Hadaik Towers, Cairo; and the National Library of Manuscripts, Cairo. A recent collaborative project entitled "Nano City" was produced with the Berkeley Group of Architecture and Planning (BgAP), a non profit design alliance of architects, planners, faculty members, consultants and students.